Letter 240

240. To the presbyters of Nicopolis.

You did well both in writing to us and in writing through such a man, who, even without a letter, would have sufficed to give us ample consolation in our cares and to make an exact instruction about affairs. For there was much that we sought to learn from one who knew most clearly, because the reports came across to us in distorted form; all of which our most longed-for and most honoured brother Theodosius, the fellow-presbyter, related to us steadily and with full knowledge. The things, then, that we counsel ourselves, these we also write to your Reverence: that these things which have happened to you have happened to many, and not in the present time only, but in the time past also there are countless examples of such things; some the histories have left in writing, and others we have received by the unwritten memory of those who knew them—that trials, both upon each man individually and upon cities, encompassed those who had set their hope on the name of the Lord, for that name's sake. But nevertheless all passed away, and none of the grievous things had an immortal pain. For just as hailstorms and torrents and all the sudden evils easily harm and ruin what is soft, but, meeting with what resists, suffer rather than do, so too the furious trials stirred up against the Church have been shown to be weaker than the firmness of faith in Christ. As, then, the cloud of hail passed by, and the torrent flowed away down the gully (for the one was dissolved into clear sky, and the other vanished in the deep, leaving dry and waterless the channel through which it ran), so too the things that now buffet us will, a little later, be no more—only if we consent not to look at the present, but to gaze with our hopes at things a little farther off.

Whether, then, the trial is heavy, brothers, let us endure the toils; for no one is crowned who has not been struck in the contests and covered with dust. Or whether these are the devil's light playthings, and those sent against us are troublesome, because they are his servants, yet contemptible, because God has joined weakness to their wickedness, let us guard against condemnation, as men lamenting great things over small sufferings. For there is one thing worthy of grief: the destruction of that very man, who, for the sake of temporary glory (if indeed we must call it glory to behave disgracefully in public), deprived himself of the eternal honour of the just. You are children of confessors, and children of martyrs, of those who resisted sin to the point of blood. Let each use his own examples for his stand on behalf of piety. None of us has been torn with stripes, no one's house has been confiscated, we have not lived in exile, we have not known the prison. What dreadful thing have we suffered? Unless perhaps this is grievous, that we have suffered nothing, nor were thought worthy of the sufferings for Christ. And if it grieves you that such-and-such a man holds the house of prayer, while you worship the Master of heaven and earth in the open air, consider that the eleven disciples were shut up in the upper room, while those who crucified the Lord were fulfilling the Jewish worship in the renowned temple. For Judas, who preferred death by hanging to living with shame, showed himself, perhaps, a more choiceworthy man than those who now have lost all shame before every condemnation of men, and on that account are shamelessly disposed toward what is base.

Only do not be deceived by their false words, when they profess rightness of faith. For such men are traffickers in Christ, and not Christians, always preferring what is profitable to them in this life to living according to the truth. When they thought to acquire this empty office, they joined the enemies of Christ; when they saw the people growing fierce, they again put on the appearance of orthodoxy. I do not acknowledge as a bishop, nor would I number among the priests of Christ, one who has been put forward for office by profane hands for the overthrow of the faith. This is my judgement. And you, if you have any portion with us, will plainly think the same as we. But if you take counsel by yourselves, each is master of his own judgement, and we are innocent of this blood. And I have written these things not because I distrust you, but to steady the wavering of some by making known my own mind—that no one may be forestalled into communion, nor, having received the laying-on of their hands, afterward, when peace has come, force himself to be numbered with the priestly body. We greet, through you, all the clergy, both of the city and of the parish, together with all the people who fear the Lord.